When Did ‘Smart Phones’ Get So Smart?

Apple's iPhone 4s has brought the concept of a "smart phone" to a whole new level. With the new "personal assistant", Siri, it can do just about everything but make your breakfast (although it CAN help you order your breakfast from the corner diner).

Since the release of the new iPhone, Apple aficionados have been gleefully trying to stump Siri, diverting from the standard "call mom", "make an appointment with Dr. Randolph next Tuesday", and "remind me to get milk" to "will you marry me?", "what are you wearing?", and "open the pod bay doors, Siri".

Here's the part where it gets a little mind boggling...she answers... appropriately (and sometimes rather cheekily)! (By the way, notice how I just used "she" instead of "it" without even thinking about it?)

To me, the most amazing part is how fast smart phones have gotten so smart. I got my first cell phone in 2000 and I remember how amazed I was that I could get the final score of a baseball game as a text message (it cost me $0.50 a shot, but so worth it). Within a year, phones were coming out with cameras built in! I remember thinking, that's stupid, I have a camera why do I need one on my phone? Of course my next free upgrade included a camera.

And then 2007 rolled around and the world was introduced to the iPhone. I've been an Apple fan my whole life, but the gadget was $200 a pop and required an expensive data plan. At the time I thought, my current phone makes calls, texts, and even has a camera I never use...what would I need an iPhone for? I figured, the web on your phone? Silly. An iPod build in? I already have an iPod, pointless. Apps? When would I ever play games on my cell phone?

A year later, the iPhone 3G was announced. It would go on sale a week and a half after my birthday. Well I certainly wouldn't spend $200 on a phone, but hey maybe it'll make a good birthday present. So I talked my mom into gifting me one.

Of course now here I am, 3 1/2 years later wondering how I ever lived without a web browser, iPod, and Facebook all on a single gadget. And, not only can I get my baseball scores but I can watch the whole game in the palm of my hand!

And of course Angry Birds. Can't forget the Angry Birds.